This thread is for the best methods of making your case fit the character limit while detracting from your arguments as little as possible and still retaining good grammar/spelling. Please add anything you think of.

-Generally when I refer to my adversary I say "my opponent" a lot. Changing it to pro or con is usually one of the first things I do when I need to shorten my round. Each change can save you as much as 8 characters. If you use it 12 times in one round, that converts into almost 100 characters saved without having to change your arguments.

-Change the "ands" into &. That's only two characters saved each time, but "and" is used a lot in writing so it adds up.

-Cut out the formalities.

-Write numbers in digit form instead of using letters. One hundred can be written as 100. It doesn't look as good often but it does save space.

-Use a URL shortening site for sources.

-Try to use the same source for as much info as you can. That way you can make 5 claims while only having to use one source.

-Minimize unnecessary adjectives/adverbs. If you say "the study is largely inconclusive", just take out largely and change it to simply "the study is inconclusive."

Can't think of anything else right now. Please share whatever methods you use and please don't say the glitch.

"Music is a zen-like ecstatic state where you become the new man of the future, the Nietzschean merger of Apollo and Dionysus." Ray Manzarek (The Doors)

At 9/9/2012 4:38:13 PM, phantom wrote:This thread is for the best methods of making your case fit the character limit while detracting from your arguments as little as possible and still retaining good grammar/spelling. Please add anything you think of.

-Generally when I refer to my adversary I say "my opponent" a lot. Changing it to pro or con is usually one of the first things I do when I need to shorten my round. Each change can save you as much as 8 characters. If you use it 12 times in one round, that converts into almost 100 characters saved without having to change your arguments.

-Change the "ands" into &. That's only two characters saved each time, but "and" is used a lot in writing so it adds up.

-Cut out the formalities.

-Write numbers in digit form instead of using letters. One hundred can be written as 100. It doesn't look as good often but it does save space.

-Use a URL shortening site for sources.

-Try to use the same source for as much info as you can. That way you can make 5 claims while only having to use one source.

-Minimize unnecessary adjectives/adverbs. If you say "the study is largely inconclusive", just take out largely and change it to simply "the study is inconclusive."

Can't think of anything else right now. Please share whatever methods you use and please don't say the glitch.

and using (tinyurl.com)

"The solution [for Republicans] is to admit that Bush was a bad president, stop this racist homophobic stuff, stop trying to give most of the tax cuts to the rich, propose a real alternative to Obamacare that actually works, and propose smart free market solutions to our economic problems." - Distraff

"Americans are better off in a dynamic, free-enterprise-based economy that fosters economic growth, opportunity and upward mobility." - Paul Ryan

a) Cut the formalities. If that's no good, then,b) Look for what I can argue in less words, yet still bring about the same point. If that doesn't work,c) I shorten worded numbers into numerical numbers. If that still doesn't work,d) I quote the beginning of what my opponent is saying and just use the good ol' "..." to include everything else. And if that STILL doesn't work, then,e) I just make a brief reference to what I'm refuting.

If you're still over the character limit then, then you're doing something wrong.

At 9/9/2012 4:38:13 PM, phantom wrote:This thread is for the best methods of making your case fit the character limit while detracting from your arguments as little as possible and still retaining good grammar/spelling. Please add anything you think of.

-Generally when I refer to my adversary I say "my opponent" a lot. Changing it to pro or con is usually one of the first things I do when I need to shorten my round. Each change can save you as much as 8 characters. If you use it 12 times in one round, that converts into almost 100 characters saved without having to change your arguments.

-Change the "ands" into &. That's only two characters saved each time, but "and" is used a lot in writing so it adds up.

-Cut out the formalities.

-Write numbers in digit form instead of using letters. One hundred can be written as 100. It doesn't look as good often but it does save space.

-Use a URL shortening site for sources.

-Try to use the same source for as much info as you can. That way you can make 5 claims while only having to use one source.

-Minimize unnecessary adjectives/adverbs. If you say "the study is largely inconclusive", just take out largely and change it to simply "the study is inconclusive."

Can't think of anything else right now. Please share whatever methods you use and please don't say the glitch.

Agreed with all of this. But I always feel just reading over something you can get out a fifth of the unnecessities.

Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to be Gay, he'll positively influence the GDP.

At 9/9/2012 4:38:13 PM, phantom wrote:This thread is for the best methods of making your case fit the character limit while detracting from your arguments as little as possible and still retaining good grammar/spelling. Please add anything you think of.

-Generally when I refer to my adversary I say "my opponent" a lot. Changing it to pro or con is usually one of the first things I do when I need to shorten my round. Each change can save you as much as 8 characters. If you use it 12 times in one round, that converts into almost 100 characters saved without having to change your arguments.

-Change the "ands" into &. That's only two characters saved each time, but "and" is used a lot in writing so it adds up.

-Cut out the formalities.

-Write numbers in digit form instead of using letters. One hundred can be written as 100. It doesn't look as good often but it does save space.

-Use a URL shortening site for sources.

-Try to use the same source for as much info as you can. That way you can make 5 claims while only having to use one source.

-Minimize unnecessary adjectives/adverbs. If you say "the study is largely inconclusive", just take out largely and change it to simply "the study is inconclusive."

Can't think of anything else right now. Please share whatever methods you use and please don't say the glitch.

and using (tinyurl.com)

I mentioned that.

"Use a URL shortening site for sources."

"Music is a zen-like ecstatic state where you become the new man of the future, the Nietzschean merger of Apollo and Dionysus." Ray Manzarek (The Doors)

At 9/9/2012 4:38:13 PM, phantom wrote:This thread is for the best methods of making your case fit the character limit while detracting from your arguments as little as possible and still retaining good grammar/spelling. Please add anything you think of.

-Generally when I refer to my adversary I say "my opponent" a lot. Changing it to pro or con is usually one of the first things I do when I need to shorten my round. Each change can save you as much as 8 characters. If you use it 12 times in one round, that converts into almost 100 characters saved without having to change your arguments.

-Change the "ands" into &. That's only two characters saved each time, but "and" is used a lot in writing so it adds up.

-Cut out the formalities.

-Write numbers in digit form instead of using letters. One hundred can be written as 100. It doesn't look as good often but it does save space.

-Use a URL shortening site for sources.

-Try to use the same source for as much info as you can. That way you can make 5 claims while only having to use one source.

-Minimize unnecessary adjectives/adverbs. If you say "the study is largely inconclusive", just take out largely and change it to simply "the study is inconclusive."

Can't think of anything else right now. Please share whatever methods you use and please don't say the glitch.

Agree with everything Phantom and BlackVoid said. Would also add - cutting out sentences where you repeated the same point. Shortening sentencing. Cutting out irrelevant info.

Also, do most of you save your arguments on the site by clicking "review"? I do it as long as I don't exceed the limit but once I exceed it and am doing my final cuts and revision, I have to use a word document because I can't click review anymore. However, word doesn't translate well into rich text so have to copy it into normal text, change it to rich text and re-format it again.

At 9/9/2012 9:46:16 PM, F-16_Fighting_Falcon wrote:Agree with everything Phantom and BlackVoid said. Would also add - cutting out sentences where you repeated the same point. Shortening sentencing. Cutting out irrelevant info.

Also, do most of you save your arguments on the site by clicking "review"? I do it as long as I don't exceed the limit but once I exceed it and am doing my final cuts and revision, I have to use a word document because I can't click review anymore. However, word doesn't translate well into rich text so have to copy it into normal text, change it to rich text and re-format it again.

I never and have never trusted the site in saving my argument. I always use either a gmail draft or word.

"Music is a zen-like ecstatic state where you become the new man of the future, the Nietzschean merger of Apollo and Dionysus." Ray Manzarek (The Doors)

At 9/9/2012 9:46:16 PM, F-16_Fighting_Falcon wrote:Agree with everything Phantom and BlackVoid said. Would also add - cutting out sentences where you repeated the same point. Shortening sentencing. Cutting out irrelevant info.

Also, do most of you save your arguments on the site by clicking "review"? I do it as long as I don't exceed the limit but once I exceed it and am doing my final cuts and revision, I have to use a word document because I can't click review anymore. However, word doesn't translate well into rich text so have to copy it into normal text, change it to rich text and re-format it again.